Is there a "post-truth" majority in the US?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:This is what happens when newspapers, TV news, and other media become advocacy organizations rather than objective reporters of facts. I just assume they are all paid liars for whoever is the highest bidder. What you call post truth is people who have turned away from corporate media BS. Now the good news is that with the internet you can become well informed on any topic…more so than ever before in human history.

Agree. Covid really pushed this forward. It was pretty clear to any thinking person that it was highly likely that a worldwide pandemic that emerged from a city where there was a lab studying that exact family of viruses originated from a lab leak.

The idea that people who stated the obvious were called racist and were shut down by the mainstream media made it clear to me that journalism as we had known it in the past was over. No one wanted the truth, they wanted to carry out their bosses’ bidding.

Love the assertion that people were called racist for merely suggesting there might have been a lab leak. That's precious.

That's not why and you know it. You people were shunning, verbally and physically attacking Asians, even ones who weren't Chinese, you were yammering about "bat soup" and other things every chance you got. That was the racist part.

"There was no racism! We merely suggested there was a lab leak!"

https://www.pewresearch.org/race-ethnicity/2023/11/30/asian-americans-and-discrimination-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/

I think we all agree racism is bad, but so is hiding the truth about the origins of the virus. As is calling people racist for speaking truthfully about it. This is why people no longer trust the mainstream media. They care more about the right PR than the truth.

The problem is that that at the time, there was no real evidence of the lab leak. It was just suspicion, theory, conspiracy theory, whatever - but not established truth. There were also suspicions of "bat soup" and "barbaric and disgusting things being sold to eat Wuhan wet market" and many other things at the exact same time. But as with the others, none of you were "speaking truths" because you didn't actually have any real evidence. The only reality of it was that you were right in the sense of a broken analog clock being right twice a day. The evidence didn't come until much later. And while you may feel vindicated that still doesn't change the fact that at the time you had no evidence and were only right like the hands on that broken clock are right for two minutes out of 24 hours. And that certainly DOES NOT make you right or righteous about anything else. Nor does it support any of your claims of what "they" (whoever that's supposed to be in your conspiracy theory) are "doing" about "PR" and "hiding the truth." But here you are, pumped up on your broken-clock confirmation-bias rightness claiming superiority on everything under the sun.

There was no evidence of any other cause either. Lab leak was just as valid as any other speculation, yet was not alllowed to be discussed.

You understand Trump was president when this speculation was shut down, right? And you also understand that the Kushner and Trump families received a lot of benefits from China between 2017 and 2020, right?

You know not everyone sees this as a team sport, right? Both sides can actually be wrong.

I agree with you. But it seems to be the pro-MAGA group making these claims not understanding that it was Trump who praised Xi in February and March and who shut down the bat-China "conspiracy" at the outset. It was only when he was out of office that he changed his tune.

[Anonymous]

Well this article from a long-time NPR editor couldn’t be more timely.

https://www.thefp.com/p/npr-editor-how-npr-lost-americas-trust

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is what happens when newspapers, TV news, and other media become advocacy organizations rather than objective reporters of facts. I just assume they are all paid liars for whoever is the highest bidder. What you call post truth is people who have turned away from corporate media BS. Now the good news is that with the internet you can become well informed on any topic…more so than ever before in human history.

Agree. Covid really pushed this forward. It was pretty clear to any thinking person that it was highly likely that a worldwide pandemic that emerged from a city where there was a lab studying that exact family of viruses originated from a lab leak.

The idea that people who stated the obvious were called racist and were shut down by the mainstream media made it clear to me that journalism as we had known it in the past was over. No one wanted the truth, they wanted to carry out their bosses’ bidding.

Love the assertion that people were called racist for merely suggesting there might have been a lab leak. That's precious.

That's not why and you know it. You people were shunning, verbally and physically attacking Asians, even ones who weren't Chinese, you were yammering about "bat soup" and other things every chance you got. That was the racist part.

"There was no racism! We merely suggested there was a lab leak!"

https://www.pewresearch.org/race-ethnicity/2023/11/30/asian-americans-and-discrimination-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/

I think we all agree racism is bad, but so is hiding the truth about the origins of the virus. As is calling people racist for speaking truthfully about it. This is why people no longer trust the mainstream media. They care more about the right PR than the truth.

The problem is that that at the time, there was no real evidence of the lab leak. It was just suspicion, theory, conspiracy theory, whatever - but not established truth. There were also suspicions of "bat soup" and "barbaric and disgusting things being sold to eat Wuhan wet market" and many other things at the exact same time. But as with the others, none of you were "speaking truths" because you didn't actually have any real evidence. The only reality of it was that you were right in the sense of a broken analog clock being right twice a day. The evidence didn't come until much later. And while you may feel vindicated that still doesn't change the fact that at the time you had no evidence and were only right like the hands on that broken clock are right for two minutes out of 24 hours. And that certainly DOES NOT make you right or righteous about anything else. Nor does it support any of your claims of what "they" (whoever that's supposed to be in your conspiracy theory) are "doing" about "PR" and "hiding the truth." But here you are, pumped up on your broken-clock confirmation-bias rightness claiming superiority on everything under the sun.

There was no evidence of any other cause either. Lab leak was just as valid as any other speculation, yet was not alllowed to be discussed.

You understand Trump was president when this speculation was shut down, right? And you also understand that the Kushner and Trump families received a lot of benefits from China between 2017 and 2020, right?

You know not everyone sees this as a team sport, right? Both sides can actually be wrong.

I agree with you. But it seems to be the pro-MAGA group making these claims not understanding that it was Trump who praised Xi in February and March and who shut down the bat-China "conspiracy" at the outset. It was only when he was out of office that he changed his tune.

That doesn’t change the fact that our mainstream media sources dismissed the lab leak theory as racist and shut down discussion of it. This goes directly against op’s claim that only the right is suffering from “post-truth” thinking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well this article from a long-time NPR editor couldn’t be more timely.

https://www.thefp.com/p/npr-editor-how-npr-lost-americas-trust

Great piece. And, to think..... taxpayers fund this liberal echo chamber.
Love these lines....

"An open-minded spirit no longer exists within NPR, and now, predictably, we don’t have an audience that reflects America. "

"Persistent rumors that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia over the election became the catnip that drove reporting. At NPR, we hitched our wagon to Trump’s most visible antagonist, Representative Adam Schiff. ....But when the Mueller report found no credible evidence of collusion, NPR’s coverage was notably sparse. Russiagate quietly faded from our programming.

It is one thing to swing and miss on a major story. Unfortunately, it happens. You follow the wrong leads, you get misled by sources you trusted, you’re emotionally invested in a narrative, and bits of circumstantial evidence never add up. It’s bad to blow a big story.

What’s worse is to pretend it never happened, to move on with no mea culpas, no self-reflection. Especially when you expect high standards of transparency from public figures and institutions, but don’t practice those standards yourself. That’s what shatters trust and engenders cynicism about the media."

"In October 2020, the New York Post published the explosive report about the laptop Hunter Biden abandoned at a Delaware computer shop containing emails about his sordid business dealings. With the election only weeks away, NPR turned a blind eye. Here’s how NPR’s managing editor for news at the time explained the thinking: “We don’t want to waste our time on stories that are not really stories, and we don’t want to waste the listeners’ and readers’ time on stories that are just pure distractions.”

But it wasn’t a pure distraction, or a product of Russian disinformation, as dozens of former and current intelligence officials suggested. The laptop did belong to Hunter Biden. Its contents revealed his connection to the corrupt world of multimillion-dollar influence peddling and its possible implications for his father.

The laptop was newsworthy. But the timeless journalistic instinct of following a hot story lead was being squelched. During a meeting with colleagues, I listened as one of NPR’s best and most fair-minded journalists said it was good we weren’t following the laptop story because it could help Trump."

"In recent years I’ve struggled to answer that question. Concerned by the lack of viewpoint diversity, I looked at voter registration for our newsroom. In D.C., where NPR is headquartered and many of us live, I found 87 registered Democrats working in editorial positions and zero Republicans. None."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Post-truth majority?"

Nah. Many people have simply awoken to the falsehoods pushed by Democrats and their media allies.

Not sure when it actually started..... but we know that all the lies told by Democrats and the media during Trump's presidency regarding "Russian collusion" were garbage. Have there been any apologies or even acknowledgements that they got it wrong? Nope.

Then, Covid came along. Any discussion of the cause being a lab leak were summarily dismissed and not even allowed to be discussed. And, that whole "6 feet away" was totally made up - based on no science at all. And, then there was the mask fiasco. After Fauci said masks were ineffective, he totally bought into them.... based on no science whatsoever. Then we were told in no uncertain terms that the vaccine prevented people from spreading the virus. Another falsehood. There were many other lies as well.... and they are all starting to come out now.

Then, there was the deplorable reporting on Hunter's laptop. Yep, it is his and it is authentic..... as confirmed by the FBI. Yet, we had 51 "former intelligence officers" along with the compliant media calling it "Russian disinformation."

So, time after time we are finding that the information provided to us by so-called "experts" is false, or even worse... lies.

I would not call it a "post-truth majority." I would call it the "enlightened majority."

Excellent comment.

If you are a partisan hack reporter, the ‘truth’ is whatever narrative you are pushing at the moment. So what we now have is a majority that has tuned out the narrative, leaving partisan hack reporters to look at their former audience as anti-truth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The current administration has abandoned the truth.

Biden is not in charge of anything; Obama is.

Truth is: top administration officials consult Obama on issues and follow his orders; not Biden’s.

And you know this...how?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The current administration has abandoned the truth.

Biden is not in charge of anything; Obama is.

Truth is: top administration officials consult Obama on issues and follow his orders; not Biden’s.

If Obama were in charge, we'd be in a much better place right now as a country; not because of policy but because of leadership. Above all political policy discussion and disagreements, we need an elite leader that can lead the most powerful country in the world on a global scale. The one quality, or lack thereof, shared by Trump and Biden is their piss poor leadership skills and we have been feeling the effects of this since 2017.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The current administration has abandoned the truth.

Biden is not in charge of anything; Obama is.

Truth is: top administration officials consult Obama on issues and follow his orders; not Biden’s.

And you know this...how?

Forget it, he's on a roll.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The current administration has abandoned the truth.

Biden is not in charge of anything; Obama is.

Truth is: top administration officials consult Obama on issues and follow his orders; not Biden’s.

And you know this...how?

Forget it, he's on a roll.

Lost in his own deep delusions

[Anonymous]

People as a whole, and politicians as well, are too entrenched in large, party-based narratives to actually examine facts with nuance on a case-by-case basis. It's very dangerous and does not serve this country at all.

[Anonymous]

And here come the emails from 2020 and 2021 showing how much we should trust the NIH and NIAID people who were burying the lab leak theory and the funding for the lab.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And here come the emails from 2020 and 2021 showing how much we should trust the NIH and NIAID people who were burying the lab leak theory and the funding for the lab.

Is this the same guy who admitted they had no scientific basis for the "six feet apart" social distancing and effectively made it up because it sounded good?

Wow.

And people on this thread blame the right for post truths?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The current administration has abandoned the truth.

Biden is not in charge of anything; Obama is.

Truth is: top administration officials consult Obama on issues and follow his orders; not Biden’s.

If Obama were in charge, we'd be in a much better place right now as a country; not because of policy but because of leadership. Above all political policy discussion and disagreements, we need an elite leader that can lead the most powerful country in the world on a global scale. The one quality, or lack thereof, shared by Trump and Biden is their piss poor leadership skills and we have been feeling the effects of this since 2017.

Hate to break this to you but much of the current collapse in political and social trust began under Obama and is the consequence of a lot of his adminstration's policies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The current administration has abandoned the truth.

Biden is not in charge of anything; Obama is.

Truth is: top administration officials consult Obama on issues and follow his orders; not Biden’s.

If Obama were in charge, we'd be in a much better place right now as a country; not because of policy but because of leadership. Above all political policy discussion and disagreements, we need an elite leader that can lead the most powerful country in the world on a global scale. The one quality, or lack thereof, shared by Trump and Biden is their piss poor leadership skills and we have been feeling the effects of this since 2017.

Hate to break this to you but much of the current collapse in political and social trust began under Obama and is the consequence of a lot of his adminstration's policies.

Such as?

The Bush II folks loved to brag how they created the truth. Loved, loved, loved it. This penchant precedes Obama.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The current administration has abandoned the truth.

Biden is not in charge of anything; Obama is.

Truth is: top administration officials consult Obama on issues and follow his orders; not Biden’s.

If Obama were in charge, we'd be in a much better place right now as a country; not because of policy but because of leadership. Above all political policy discussion and disagreements, we need an elite leader that can lead the most powerful country in the world on a global scale. The one quality, or lack thereof, shared by Trump and Biden is their piss poor leadership skills and we have been feeling the effects of this since 2017.

Hate to break this to you but much of the current collapse in political and social trust began under Obama and is the consequence of a lot of his adminstration's policies.

Such as?

The Bush II folks loved to brag how they created the truth. Loved, loved, loved it. This penchant precedes Obama.

Yep. It accelerated post 9/11 and the "war on terror" and WMDs